On My Own

For those who aren't keeping track of me via Twitter or various other social networking sites, I am on my own again for about the next two week as Todd is off on a business trip.  Typically, he has two international trips a year - one over to France and this trip to Asia, this time he's headed to the Philippines and Malaysia.  It is pretty mind-boggling to think he still has a long ways to go.  I dropped him off at the airport last night and he won't arrive in Manila (over 3 separate flights) until very early this morning local time here.   And needless to say now after experiencing what a trip to Asia is like, I have new-found appreciation (or awe) of all that it entails... and heck, having in many ways just seeming like I've just come back... I couldn't imagine making the trip again... but alas, he doesn't have much choice.

While you would think both of us would be used to these trips by now, they don't get any easier.  With Todd, I can't imagine what it would be like to be a foreign country (or countries) for that amount of time... and let alone have it be for "work"... and for him, it's the proverbial double-edged sword, that while he is getting first-hand accounts of what's going on at these foreign offices, it gets him more and more behind on the daily deluge of stuff he would be facing back here. 

For me, it's more selfish.  Again, while I would never give up working from home for its many, many (many, many, many!) advantages ... the lack of social interaction can make one go bonkers.  Most of the times that's pretty okay with me, but it is very nice having someone come home after what is typically a 12-hour period where more times than not I have not spoken to a single person.  Hopefully, this explains to some of my friends and followers of my sometime frenetic activity on those "social" sites... it is often very sanity saving... so I really do have to buckle down mentally when I know that I am not going to have that social interaction for those 4-5 hours at the end of each day (and we won't get into the weekends).

We did have a bit of extra sad moment as we were pulling out of the garage last night... as we both recalled, the last business trip... and what ended up being the very day we had to say goodbye to Toby.  It's been very strange how often he's been on my mind lately... not that our departed pets are ever off our minds, but the "time heals all wounds" adage does seem to hold true.  But I guess, with triggers like the business trip or the trip to China, it is not a huge surprise that thoughts of Toby have resurfaced... especially since the whole illness was so quick and unexpected.

But I have got good at prepping for these "alone" times... the TiVo is stocked up with a lot to watch and I am going to try and get out of the house and feed my photography habit a bit... and of course, there are always my friends near and far that I will count on to keep me entertained and who have been very nice in listening to all I have to say or ramble on about! 

Comments

[monette]

do you mind if i ask after your twitter account? i'm there as well!

[Jeff]

Ah lordy ... at first I totally thought that said, "get out of the house and feed my pornography habit a bit." And then I thought, *out* of the house? :-P